Fish finder speed display

[Kokafish]

I have been reading KFF for some time and maybe someone with more experience can help. I have been using an old Bottomline fish finder for several years and the speed reading would usually be at 0mph. Sometimes it would jump all over the place. I upgraded to a Humminbird 598 CI SI comb. I thought with the GPS the speed readout would be steady and accurate. The problem I'm still having it the speed readout still jumps around. It sounds like a lot of you troll at set speeds 1.2, 1.8 or other speeds. Does your read outs stay steady or do they jump around? I don't have a speed wheel hooked up and don't know if they even make one for it. Very frustrating as I thought this would help, but it hasn't. Any advice would be appreciated.

Marvin

[SuperD]

Your boat doesn't have cruise control. Your boat speed will be affected by every breath of wind and/or current. If it jumps a couple of tenths in either direction, I wouldn't sweat it.

[Mharri333]

Kokafish,

I use a Humminbird also (1198SI). The speed will, as D said, jump around based on the wind and/or current. I have used the external speed wheel which I wasn't overly impressed with. When I moved the FF to the new boat I didn't remount it. The GPS speedo is enough. I think with kokanee you will find that the gusts of wind and changing of speed will actually be a benefit to a certain extent.

Here is an interesting thing. I have a Humminbird that reads one speed. A garmin Echomap70DV that will show another speed. And the remote for my Terrova I-Pilot will show another speed. Oddly enough the Terrova control and the Garmin are pretty close but the HB always seems to read a little fast and bounces more. The Humminbird also is the only one that has an external antenna.

Probably not much help to you but I go off of the one on the Terrova control since it doesn't bounce around as much and use it as my standard. (I also set cruise control from there) I can see the speeds on the FF's when I am watching marks on the screen but I base adjustments off the Terrova remote reading. My opinion (which isn't worth much), is that you end up using the GPS to keep consistent when you find a speed that works. Even if the speed is off but you are catching fish and it gives you a speed to try to stick with you win. You just go back to the same speed that is producing fish. For kokes that is generally 1.1 mph on the Terrova remote. I start there and adjust as necessary.

[DLM]

When all else fails watch your rod tip. Even in the downrigger you will get a good idea of what your dodger or flashers are doing. Remember when we did not have all the gizmos we have now?

[mtncat1]

how much jumping around are we talking about. your speed will very slightly but shouldn't be moving more than a couple of tenths for the most part if its moving 1 or more mph suddenly . you may have another type of problem.

[Kokafish]

Thanks for all the replies. I do understand that wind makes a big difference. I have a Hewscraft 18 Sporstman and it's like a sail boat in the wind. Tried it again yesterday and noticed one time it jumped from 0.9 to 2.1. I'm also having a lot of trouble getting it to work at high speed. The display is very cluttered (can't think of a better word to describe it). I have adjusted it several times and it doesn't seem to help. Very disappointed in this unit. I must be doing something right. Ended up with 4 nice kokes in the boat and several off before we could get them in.


Marvin